I never got to know Leocadia Wielgorecki, my mother’s mother. She died several years before I was born. I only heard stories about her from my mother and my older brother and sister, as my grandmother lived with them. However, I am the one with her bedroom chair sitting in my basement.

Grandma Leocadia Wielgorecki

That chair has traveled from state to state and house to house with me for many years. It sat tucked away in a basement corner until it was time to move again. I had great intentions of refinishing the wood and recovering the seat and pillow and using it — but that never happened. Even if I had restored it, I have no place to put in my downsized home.

So here this chair sits, sadly looking at me when I am in my basement studio. Somehow, I cannot just throw it out. It’s one of the very few things I have that belonged to Leocadia. And besides, I grew up with that chair. I have memories of my dad sitting in it and changing his shoes after work each day. I remember my mom picking out that printed fabric to recover the seat and pillow. It’s not a fine piece of furniture. The fabric is faded, and the seat has lost its ruffled skirt. It’s seen better days, but it has history.

So, on a recent weekend, I decided to pay tribute to Leocadia, my parents, and “the chair.” I did this painting of it. It’s not a painting I would expect someone to buy. The chair is tired and worn. But by painting it, I somehow feel I’ve given it a new life just the way it is.

Active, associate and allied art professionals, you are invited to submit your work for publication in the Pen Woman and on the NLAPW website!

As the new art editor, I do not have a backlog of unused images. Even if you have submitted work in the past, please feel free to submit images and articles now.

Art editor Lucy Arnold

There is no submission fee, no deadline, and no limit to how often you may submit.

I cannot promise that your work will be published, but all submissions will receive serious consideration. All submissions will also be considered for the cover art for the magazine.

We have the following opportunities for art members:
• Short article (with photo) about an individual piece of work.
• Longer article (with photos) about a body of work, or your personal artistic journey or inspiration.
•“In the Studio” article focusing on your process, accompanied by a few photos of work in progress and completed work.
• Featured Art on the NLAPW website (with or without a short article)

To submit:

Select your best work and email low-resolution digital images to arteditor@nlapw.org. I will request larger, hi-resolution files if we decide to publish your work, and will provide help with writing articles, if needed.

In your email, please include:

a. Your name
b. Branch (please note: we can only feature the work of current members)
c. Your website URL, if applicable
d. Image title, medium, size
e. A brief statement about yourself, the artwork and why you think it should be featured
f. An article, if you are submitting one

Polly Curran is an award-winning Artistic Nature photographer. “The natural beauty of each individual leaf or flower becomes a work of art through the camera. Their natural beauty gives me a strong sense of intimacy in even the smallest things. I try to bring out the best feature of a flower, leaf or tree to capture the soul of the image.”

For Jungle Jewel,the moment she saw this beautiful Heliconia and began to look at all aspects of this tropical beauty it was an emotional experience. As she looked more deeply at this unique flower, searching for its soul, Curran felt a sense of excitement. Her lens found what she was looking for. Her love for haiku poetry, has given her a way to express the emotional moment when she feels that she has found that special beauty in nature. Below is the Haiku Curran wrote for this image:

Painter of all things in Mother Nature, Susie Monzingo thinks nothing depicts spring in Texas more than bluebonnets and hummingbirds. So she painted both! With an abundance of bluebonnets this year and families all over the area in the fields taking family photos, Monzingo created this work from acrylic on gold leaf background.

She said it “reminds me when our daughter was really young and we took her Easter picture in a field of bluebonnets off the side of the road. These scenes evoke sweet memories as I hope this painting will.”

Dancing brushes, flowing paint and vibrant colors blend together in Katie Turner’s watercolors. She has developed a painting style of spontaneity while maintaining a quiet balance of chaos and control. The slick nature of the papers she uses enables her to keep the paintings fresh, evocative and joyful.

“Painting is one way I’m able to share with others. My favorite subjects are from nature and almost always flowers. They can carry mythological, religious or even medical meaning and can bring such beauty and joy into a space. A flower is a testimony that the world is designed for enjoyment.”

For Judy Bingman, hummingbirds have been a favorite to photograph. But it hasn’t always been that way.

Bingman, a two-term president of the Santa Clara branch of NLAPW, taught physical education at Los Gatos, CA High School for 35 years. During the last eleven years she also directed both the LGHS concert and marching bands. She herself plays a haunting saxophone.

“After my first trip to Africa in 1998 I knew wildlife photography would be my love,” she says. But it was not until her retirement that she was able to seriously pursue her new career as a professional photographer.

Because of her lifelong love of nature and animals, she naturally focused her camera on birds and wild animals throughout the world. Bingman has traveled to India for the tigers; Brazil for jaguars; Africa for mountain gorillas; Antarctica for penguins, and Canada for polar bears. She has snorkeled with the whales, sat 4 feet from an 12 foot long anaconda she was photographing, been awed by the aurora borealis dancing overhead, and figured out how to get her camera to work in minus 42 degree weather. Alaska, Iceland, China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe have also been on her itinerary.

With such an eclectic background it’s no wonder other professionals call her photographs “emotion-filled”! But, back to the hummingbirds . . . Bingman continues her excursions to photograph the hummingbirds and now gives workshops at her home to teach others how to photograph these fast little wonders.

Maralyn Miller has been painting for over 65 years. She has a BFA from California College of Arts in Oakland California and has since studied with numerous noted painters.

Miller’s subjects are mostly California landscapes done in a realistic style and her mediums are oils and pastels. She loves to capture the light and shadows of the hills and trees in the State where she lives.

Her work is in two California galleries and in over 650 collections. She has had several solo shows and has been honored with many awards including several first places and Best of Shows. Miller has also judged several shows. She paints almost daily in her Los Gatos Studio.

Since childhood, Pat Levey’s life as an artist has been spent drawing and painting, usually inspired by the sea and animals. She began her career as a New York City art teacher then served as a school administrator and taught at Queens College Graduate Programs. Leaving education to pursue her creative potential, Levey studied classical painting with J.Acetus Jackson and also studied at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, FL. She has continued to take Master workshops.

Levey paints realistically as well as surrealistically working in oils, metal, and vitreous and limoges enamels. By having three paintings juried into the National Society of Art exhibits from the year 2003 to 2010, she was awarded a gold medal. Earning a gold medal gave her a signature membership in the NSA. Her work, including paintings, murals and jewelry, has been exhibited locally, regionally and nationally.

Pat Levey is currently the vice president of the Palm Beach (FL) Branch of the National League of American Pen Women.

Note from the Art Editor, Darlene Yeager-Torre: The art featured last week on “Art of the Week” was upside-down. I offer my sincere apologies to Deborah Anderson, and to all the blog followers, for this error and now show the quilt as it was meant to be viewed. You will also find additional, more detailed information on Anderson’s technique.

Images on this quilt are transferred to cotton fabric by applying heat and pressure, a heat press, used for T-shirts. The photographs are transferred to special transfer paper using a color laser copier. The images are then collaged to complete the design in readiness for a single press, since the transfers are semi-translucent. The final step is to make the quilt “sandwich” (front, center batting and back), stitch through all layers, and bind the edges.